Proactive Muslim Minute: earn your checkpoints

How to focus on one thing. Part 2.

🧠 How to be proactive:

You are 95% more likely to succeed in anything you set out to do if you have this:

An accountability partner.

Readers have been using accountability partners each Ramadhan to push them to recite more Quran and some even completed a full recitation for the first time. We did this in the private group chat but you can use any accountability partner you like…

Like your spouse or a friend.

Simply make a commitment to your accountability partner to recite the Quran every day for this upcoming Ramadhan. You must then check in each day to let them know if you fulfilled your commitment.

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💡 Proactive Muslim Minute:

I touched on the importance of knowing the checkpoints for each of your goals in the last email.

Knowing your checkpoints empowers you to focus on the one thing you need to do at any given moment to advance your goals…

As opposed to feeling overwhelmed by the weight all the little things you have yet to get done.

You focus on what’s in front of you. Complete it. Then move on to the next step.

And you reach a checkpoint (or milestone) when you complete all the steps at that stage. You must avoid looking beyond your current task and checkpoint until it is complete.

This is how you do more with less time and effort—true focus made easy.

Here are some examples to drive the idea home:

• Goal: learn how to swim.

  • Checkpoint 3: Swim one width of the pool.

  • Checkpoint 2: Learn to breaststroke.

  • Checkpoint 1: Join a swimming class.

    • Task 3: Attend the class.

    • Task 2: Register for the class.

    • Task 1: Find a local swimming teacher.

Notice how the list starts from the last checkpoint or task and goes backwards. This is how you make an effective plan based on the Reverse Roadmap Technique.

Here’s another example:

• Goal: perform Umrah.

  • Checkpoint 3: perform the rites of Umrah.

  • Checkpoint 2: book tickets.

  • Checkpoint 1: preparations.

    • Task 3: learn how to perform Umrah.

    • Task 2: buy ihram.

    • Task 1: save for the trip.

These are very simplified examples but you should be able to see how this concept enables you to focus on the one thing you need to do at each stage.

When all tasks are complete you have earned the checkpoint and the right to move to the next stage. There’s no point stressing over the next checkpoint since you can’t do anything until you complete the current one.

We take on stress and feel defeated when we worry about later steps before we earned the current checkpoint.

But you won’t know your checkpoints until you have done goal setting to know what you actually want in life and then broken your goals down into checkpoints and tasks.

And remember:

You're just one goal away…

Jun